Between a Stone and a Hard Place
by pouralaura
Summary: Strong, confident, twenty-two year old Ella moves to the Hoenn region to start something new, leaving heartbreak and growing up behind. She finds Training to be her new love, but doesn't expect to be swept off her feet by a man whom she knows nothing about. Steven x OC. (Follows the storyline of Ruby/Sapphire closely, so may start slow!)


Being a Gym Leader's daughter had its perks.

Like when the Hoenn League paid for your family to move regions; moving expenses, house, and all. Ella had chosen to come with her parents rather than stay in Johto for a myriad of reasons, most of them involving how much she loved them and how difficult and costly it was to travel across region boundaries constantly. She would stay with them for a short time while she established herself in the area, but at twenty-two years old she no longer felt comfortable making a permanent home with them when she was fully capable of supporting herself. Ella had a degree in Psychology from Olivine City College, having gone the scholarly route instead of making her way as a Pokemon Trainer, which her father had greatly approved of. Norman Rosewater had dropped out of high school himself to pursue his dream of defeating the Elite Four. Luckily, he had been successful, and had spent a brief stint as the Johto League Champion before he married Ella's mother and settled down in New Bark Town; but his dreams for Ella included her completing her schooling before making her way out into the Pokemon world. She was all too happy to do so, having graduated both high school and college at the top of her class without too much effort on her part. Now, though, she had more open doors in front of her and it was up to her to choose one. Moving to Hoenn seemed like a decent enough time to get started.

Ella hopped out of the back of the moving truck deftly, meeting her parents at the door to their new home. It was modest but cozy, with only two bedrooms, a bathroom and a half-bath, and a kitchen and living room. The Rosewaters were a well-established and fairly wealthy family, but chose to save most of their funds for traveling and extra expenses.

"Nothing broken?" Norman raised his eyebrows at his sweatpants-clad daughter.

"We're good. No worries. Scary moment there with the full-length mirror and a bookshelf, but I saved everything." Ella winked at her parents and stepped past them to open the front door for them, following at their heels. Three Machokes were already at work bringing boxes into the small house, and one had lit a fire in the fireplace to warm the room.

"This Pokemon moving service is just glorious." Lily, Ella's mother, beamed at one of the Machokes, who returned the gesture with a gracious low growl.

"Why don't you make them some Pokeblocks with the berries I have in my satchel, Lily?" Norman handed the shoulder bag he was carrying to his wife and leaned over to kiss her cheek. "Ella can go upstairs and handle her things—and see the little gift I bought her."

Ella grinned at her father. "Oh, Daddy. You spoil me."

"It's nothing much, just thought it'd make things feel a little more homey." He motioned up the stairs. "Go ahead."

Still smiling to herself, Ella ascended the steps into the narrow hallway that held only two doors. The one on the left was hers. The room was already set up with a twin bed, her desk and dresser, and above the tiny trash can…was a lovely glass wall clock with Roman numeral numbers and a rose-colored rim. "Perfect." Norman knew how to take care of his daughter. She set the clock—11:45 am. "Now to change out of my sweats."

Ella decided on a deep brown pencil skirt and turtleneck crop top, showing just a strip of skin between the two, with a mustard-yellow oversized cardigan and tall brown stiletto boots. Appropriate fall weather, professional and feminine. Perfect to introduce herself to the Professor, Norman's friend who lived in town. She wasn't sure what he would have to offer her, whether it would be insight on Pokemon or an opening in his research lab. Either way, it would be a start. She ran a brush through her thick wavy blonde hair, letting it fall past her shoulders to its full length, and applied a touch of eye makeup and a coat of dark lipstick. Ella was certainly very attractive, and she held herself confidently, like she knew it. Historically, she had never really lacked for attention.

"Well? Do you like it?" her father asked from the doorway of her room.

"Dad. I love it. Thank you." Ella turned from the mirror she had been using and stepped across the room into Norman's arms. "It's just what I needed."

"Excellent." He pressed his lips to the top of her head. "You look lovely. Definitely ready to go see Birch."

"Thanks, Dad."

Professor Birch's lab was the largest building in Littleroot Town, located just south of absolutely everything else, so Ella had no trouble finding it. She politely introduced herself to the people she met along the way, noting how kindly they all welcomed her. It was a pleasant place to live so far.

As she got closer to the lab, though, she noticed that the windows were dark—it appeared to be currently vacated by any researcher. Ella found that the door was locked, too, so she decided to stop by the family's house instead. It was right next door to her own new home anyway. She knocked lightly on the door, and waited only a moment for an answer.

"Oh, you must be Norman's daughter! Please come in!" A woman Ella assumed to be Mrs. Birch greeted her warmly and practically pulled her into the house. It was built very similarly to the Rosewaters', so much so that Ella had a brief spell of déjà vu. "It's so nice to meet you, dear—you are the spitting image of your father!"

"It's nice to meet you too. And I'll take that as a compliment!" Ella smiled warmly at the woman, but noticed that there was no sign of the Professor here either.

"Can I pour you a cup of tea? Make you a sandwich?"

"Oh, no, don't worry about me! My house is pretty busy right now and I just wanted to take a small break to come introduce myself. Is your husband here?"

Mrs. Birch laughed. "No, he's not often at the house. Usually he's at the lab, but right now I think he's up on 101 doing some fieldwork. Brendan was actually going to go out there now—Brendan?" She walked over to the stairs and called the same name again.

"Coming!" came a male voice from the upper part of the house. There was a short burst of footsteps on the stairs, and then a tall young man came tramping down to the ground floor. He was probably six feet tall, with messy platinum blonde hair and a bandana tied around his head, a black and red track jacket, and tan cargo shorts. "I'll be back in a couple of hours, I think—who's…" His demeanor changed when he saw Ella standing next to the kitchen table. Straightening his posture, he raised his eyebrows, cleared his throat, and not-so-slyly looked her up and down. "Hi. I'm Brendan Birch."

Ella smirked at his reaction. "Hey, I'm Ella Rosewater. Just moved in next door." She got this response often from men—and some women. She knew that she was very beautiful in a dainty, intelligent way, and it generally worked very well in her favor. Brendan certainly wasn't her type, but his attention was flattering.

Mrs. Birch seemed delighted with the interaction. "I think Ella's about your age, Brendan. Twenty-ish?"

Ella nodded and smiled kindly at her. "Twenty-two." She looked at Brendan. "I'm sure we will run into each other a lot. Could you maybe take me to meet the Professor?"

Brendan was still slightly flustered. "Yeah, absolutely. He's up on 101. Wanna go now?"

"Please! That would be great."

Mrs. Birch gave her son a quick kiss, Ella a delighted hug, and sent the two of them off. Ella was happy to finally be getting somewhere, and she enjoyed the company of the lanky guy next to her. "Your mother is just wonderful."

"Ha. I'm sure she'd be happy to hear that. She's a little bit stifling sometimes, but it's not a big deal. I've stayed around this area for quite awhile because I really don't think she could deal with me going anywhere far away."

They made their way north past a few more villagers. "Yeah, I feel you there. My parents are really great too, but my mom would prefer me stay home always. Dad's always been a Gym Leader, though, so he's all for me doing everything and going everywhere. Hopefully I'll be able to find something here in Hoenn to keep me occupied."

"There's so much to do here, I'm sure you will—" Brendan stopped suddenly. "Ella, look!"

Ella glanced up ahead. There was a cloud of dust just past the Route 101 sign, and she could hear a man's yells. "Shit! What's happening?"

The two of them ran the rest of the way to the sign and into the dust. Once inside the cloud, they could see a man in a white lab coat being chased by a seemingly enraged small dog Pokemon.

"Dad!" Brendan yelled. "What should we do?"

The man looked over his shoulder as he sprinted to their right. "Brendan! And…young lady! Ahhh…in my bag! There are three Pokeballs, pick one and please use it!"

Ella looked down at her feet and found the bag he spoke of right next to her. She pulled out the first round object she found and threw it as she had seen Norman do many times. It worked, shockingly enough—she had half expected nothing to happen—and a brilliant flash of light flew from the ball in midair, forming a small creature who then landed on the ground. The light cleared, and she saw it was a frog-lizard type Pokemon, green all over to the tip of its leafy tail. It turned to her and cocked its head slightly.

"Uhh…Tackle! You know that move, right?"

The Pokemon continued to look at her, rather expectantly.

"Okay, if you don't know Tackle, you must know Scratch…or…how about Pound?"

At the last one, the Pokemon's eyes lit up, and it turned toward the opposition. It jumped high into the air and came down on the other Pokemon with its fists outstretched, causing the small dog-like creature to whine in pain and tear its attention away from the Pokemon Professor, who was able to stop running and double over to catch his breath. The dog Pokemon howled at Ella's Pokemon and then lunged at it, but Ella's Pokemon dodged artfully and quickly retaliated with a another Pound that left the dog unable to fight any longer. It limped away in defeat, and Ella's victor turned to her once more, leapt over, and nuzzled her hand gently.

"Oh. Good…good Pokemon…" Ella murmured, mildly stunned at the show of affection. Somehow, she'd won.

"Treecko." Professor Birch had regained his footing and breath, and was now walking towards her and Brendan. "That's a Treecko, a Grass Pokemon, and he seems to like you already. And I'm Birch, and you must be Norman's lovely daughter."

"Treecko," Ella said, and the little Pokemon looked up at her. "Good work." Treecko closed his eyes, the corners of his scaly mouth turned upwards in contentment. Brendan met her eyes in approval. "It's very nice to meet you, Professor."

"Would you like to carry him back to my lab? I have some things I'd like to talk to both of you about," said Professor Birch kindly.

They walked back in mostly silence, save for mild small talk and the tiny noises Treecko made in Ella's arms. He was strange to touch, scaly but soft, and not at all unpleasant. She rather liked him, and the fact that he seemed contented to be held by her was helping. They finally arrived back at the lab, and Professor Birch led the group inside.

"Ella, I can't thank you enough for helping me out back on 101. Sometimes I get so engrossed in what I'm doing that I forget to pay attention to the wild Pokemon I might be disturbing. That's probably bad for a Professor to say…but anyway, I'd really like to repay you."

"Professor, that's not necessary. I was—"

"I'd like to give you the Pokemon you're holding."

There was silence while Ella processed that offer in her mind.

"Treecko obviously likes you very much already, and I think that you should have a strong bond with your first Pokemon. What do you say?"

"I…would love to keep him! Thank you so much!" Ella was floored. The little Pokemon she held in her arms looked up at her and made a purring sound. She was in love. "He's perfect."

"Consider it done then." The Professor grinned. "Brendan, I hate to give you second choice, but you get second choice."

Brendan shrugged. "Hey, what're you gonna do? I had my eye on this little chick anyway…" He picked up one of the two Pokeballs offered him by his father and tossed it gently. A tiny orange chick appeared after the initial flash of light and gave a tiny, happy cluck. "Torchic. Ready to kick some ass?" His Pokemon, in response, hopped onto his shoe. "Hell yeah you are."

Ella laughed. "That's adorable. Professor, I can't thank you enough."

Professor Birch waved her thanks off. "It's no trouble. I want to help you both get started on your Pokemon journey, whether or not you become Trainers or Breeders or scholars or researchers. That journey starts here. And I have some gifts to help you on your way…" He handed both of them a PokeDex. "This will record information on every Pokemon you meet or catch. I would love for both of you to someday obtain information on every Pokemon, but that's a goal for far in the future, I think."

Treecko chirped, and Ella hugged him tightly in her arms. "Well, I can't wait to get started, then."


End file.
